The Introspective Week

Hello My Dearest Family! It's been a great week here full of blessings and direction, I really can't express how amazing it is to look back on how much my Heavenly Father has blessed me this week.

Monday, 17 October 2016
A rather unremarkable day in the life of me. I got to talk to you all, so that was good! Otherwise some sisters took us and another companionship out to lunch. We ate at a Dairy Queen definitely designed to catch the American tourists. It felt like I was back in America for a few minutes! Then we got Elder Gasser a haircut, and found out there is probably going to be a typhoon on Thursday. Blegh.

Tuesday, 18 October 2016
Just one of those long days you have sometimes. We didn't have anything set up, so we went contacting all day. An hour in the park, then an hour riding the streets. We didn't really find anyone, but I trust the Lord when He says no effort is wasted. We also had a lesson with an investigator, Sam, where we taught the 10 commandments and he's probably coming to Church on Sunday!

Wednesday, 19 October 2016
When you have a district leader companion, you travel a lot. That's okay, because I love meeting with the other missionaries in our mission. We went to Pindong for another Baptism interview, and I passed my 1-3 pass-off with the zone leaders! Then we came back, had a lesson with our new investigator Wang, and then had English class. I felt impressed to share about Prophets in our spiritual Share that we do after English class, and Elder Gasser told me it would be kind of hard, so I suggested to talk about prayer instead, but he just grinned at me, told me to try it, and started playing "We thank Thee Oh God for A prophet," on the piano. Stinker. It went pretty well though, and I think we really invited the Spirit.

Thursday, 20 October 2016
President Funk of the Asia Area came down for a mission tour! It was a great meeting, and the Spirit helped me know many things I can do to be happier and more effective as a servant of the Lord. Any time we truly listen and pray, we will receive guidance and direction from our Father in Heaven. I really believe that. He wants us to succeed and be happy on this Earth. If you have a concern or problem, ask Him! I know He hears every one of our prayers, and He wants to help His children. We also went contacting tonight and I felt like we should pull off and talk to this little family that was Playing Pokemon Go up by the train station. We did and talked to them for a good ten minutes. They had a little interest, and might get in contact with us again, but most importantly to me was the knowledge that, despite the result, we had been faithful to a prompting. God promises us no effort is wasted. It was a real blessing to me because when we were talking, I wanted them to accept this message so much! I know our message and Gospel comes from a loving God to make us happy, and allow us to live together forever. And I want everyone to know it. 

Friday, 21 October 2016
Some cool things happened today! Like every other day, but still! We had our weekly planning, which I always enjoy, then we met with an older gentleman from our English class, who wanted to teach us some cool Chinese stuff. That was fine, but then after that lesson, we invited him to hear about what we know. He said yes! We referred him to the missionaries in his area, and he may or may not live in a "Seventh Day Adventists" Chapel, so it'll be interesting to see how that meeting goes! We also had a lesson with our RC, Cai in which I didn't understand much, and said less. I feel a bit on the less-than-useful side sometimes. It's improving slowly, but I just wish I could help more. But I also know Heavenly Father wouldn't have me go through something if it wasn't to help me. And that ties into my studies this week. I read a lot about Nephi and all he did. I think I learned the stories as a kid, learned the meaning as a teenager, and now on my mission, the Lord is teaching me the application. I knew these things, but suddenly I started seeing what I needed to do with them. Such as Nephi's faith. Really though. I on one hand get pretty discouraged after one lesson, forgetting in part the countless blessings and promises God has bestowed on me as a missionary. Nephi, however, was almost killed, lost all his inheritance, and was beaten by his brothers, and still never wavered in the trust of the Lord. Truly I wonder if I wouldn't have murmured with Laman and Lemuel. They just gave up everything they possessed to try and get the plates. And nothing! "Lord, we just gave you all we had! Isn't that enough?" Not Nephi though. I've really been striving the rest of the week to try and have that kind of faith. To truly trust in the Lord despite any setback. I hope I explained adequately my thoughts, but if not, just go study it and you'll get your own. ;-)

Saturday, 22 October 2016
A good learning day. I'll admit sometimes this is frustrating living with a companion 24/7, especially one who speaks pretty flawless Chinese. And I'm supposed to keep up with the Lord's hastening. I was pretty down and out this morning, but then I had a thought about the Savior. I remember a thought about a conference talk earlier about "Do you have the faith not to be healed?" And it occurred to me that sometimes our faith grows the most when we have faith enough for something not to happen. It totally changed my attitude for the whole week though. I know that "All things work together for the good of him who loveth God." Or something like that. Think about it, would Nephi be the same prophet and example we know and love if the Lord said, "Well Nephi, I know your faith is great and you would be willing and able to accomplish all these things, so I'll just carry you by the Spirit to the promised Land." Of course he wouldn't be! So why should we complain about our trials when they truly are the things that make us great? Also, mini miracle, I had my Lesson 4 pass off today at 3;00, and we were still a 20 minute train ride away in Pingdong at 2:50, and my reviewer had a lesson at 4. But we were able to sneak on an early train, and their investigator rescheduled for later! And I passed!

Sunday, 23 October 2016
Beautiful Sabbath. I love the peace that's in the chapel. Our super Golden investigator Wang JM was there too! We also had a lesson in Gospel Principles about the Law of Chastity, which means that I don't have to teach it to her. ;-) And then BOOM! Li DX, my favorite RC got the priesthood today! I love seeing the absolute change the gospel brings to people.

Well that's been my week, and what a week it was. I look forward to the new challenges God will give me, and overcoming them through the enabling power of the Atonement.

Elder Meanea sent us this wonderful video of him sharing some Chinese with us!

WASAI!!!!!!!!!!

WASAI!!!!!!!!!!

Translated probably means something akin to "wow!"
Anyways, hello my dearest family, and my amazing friends!

What a week in Taiwan. I've got a lot of stuff to cover, so here we go!

Monday, 10 October 2016
I always do the cool stuff and get the cool pictures on P-Day AFTER I finish emailing you people. What's up with that? I got done emailing, and then we took the Subway over to (Pardon English Translation, I can write in in characters better) Kaosiung? 89. It was so big! We met up with a bunch of other missionaries and had a party at the top. I saw the ocean for the first time! And I also saw one of my favorite district members, Elder Hansen with Elder Graves there! I got a picture with him, and then we went home, did some grocery shopping, and then the day was pretty much done.

Tuesday, 11 October 2016
We went to Zone training meeting today in Pingdong, about the Atonement. I love learning about the Atonement so much. One thing that really hit me during study is how miserable life and everything would be if we didn't have it. I once read this book (as I was like to do in the past) called Elantris, by Brandon Sanderson. The premise was that there was this city full of cursed people, and the curse was that their bodies weren't able to heal anymore. If you stubbed your toe, you would eternally have that pain from your toe, the rest of your life, no healing. So imagine a broken bone! But the point is that if we didn't have the Atonement, we could never overcome the effects of our sins by ourselves, we would forever be under the weight of those transgressions, never clean, never worthy to enter the temple and make those covenants that allow our families to be together. "I stand all amazed at the Love Jesus Offers me!" Imagine life without it! We would have no hope, and no lasting happiness. It seems as though we should truly prostrate ourselves before the Lord each day, and weep with Joy at the mercy and grace He has given us! We truly can do nothing without Him.

Wednesday, 12 October 2016
We went to Pingdeng again today for a language pass-off for one of the sisters in our district. On the way there, Elder Gasser was on the other side of the train, and I started talking with an older gentleman next to me. I didn't understand a couple of things, but we spoke for a few minutes, and I ended up giving him a card with our chapel's address and number on it, and most of all didn't sound like a complete fool! Woot woot! We also had a lesson with Wang DX later that night about the restoration, and he said he feels like the Lord answers his prayers! What could make a missionary more happy???

Elder Meanea's Bike

Thursday, 13 October 2016
We visited my favorite recent convert, Li DX again today. Wow, what a life he's had. He broke two ribs sneezing the other day, and broke a finger when he slapped a table to kill a mosquito. He talked to us about his concerns, and though he wasn't sure on a lot of things, I never saw his faith falter in our discussions about the Gospel and the truth of it. It's always humbling to walk out of there, knowing what he's been through and is still willing to go through. We found a fried rice place, and I ordered their Italian style, which was basically fried rice with Pesto, but it reminded me of Leeks Marina! And all the times I told mom, "Oh, I won't be eating this for two years..." ;-) We had a last visit with our investigator Sanya that night, and my job was to keep the toddler quiet. He was literally climbing all over me and asking me to answer his toy phone. My salvation came when he pulled out a puzzle to do with me. At least he was quiet. I'm thinking Chloroform Cookies next time.

Friday, 14 October 2016
Weekly planning party! Have I said recently how I love it? It's a time when God has promised to guide us to know what we need to do to help our investigators, and it's great! I also passed off lesson three, and I'll have a 1-3 pass off on Wednesday next week with the Zone Leaders. I really felt the Spirit in there. It was an amazing thing. God truly attends us if we try to have Him with us. We visited our recent convert Cai that night as well.

Saturday, 15 October 2016
I just love a good prayer. When you kneel down, truly speak your mind, and then ask to know the Father's will as humbly as you can, I know answers will come as we wait and ponder. We had a correlation meeting, and I came out with a heavy knowledge of how bad my Chinese is. I just don't have all the skills my trainer does! I don't know how to talk to people! And then we went to a lesson that night with a new investigator, Wang JM (DX and JM are "Deesiung" and "Jiemay", brother and sister) She was really open, and Elder Gasser did most of the talking. But in the end, he acted on a spiritual prompting and invited her to be baptized.


SHE JUST SAID YES!!!!!


I really didn't know what to say, and couldn't have said it if I wanted to, but it just blew me away, and I got a really powerful feeling of the Spirit. It was great. And I walked out of that lesson with a very important realization, one I seem to keep having, and will until I really take it to heart. The most important thing I can do is invite the Spirit. Not have all the people skills, not have the best Chinese or memorized approaches. It wasn't because of Elder Gasser's superb Chinese and teaching skills that she accepted, it was because the Holy Spirit testified to her heart that our words, this message is true. After that I almost ignored an impression to talk to a man sitting on the couch outside a lesson, but Elder Gasser and I went over, and I found out he was a non-member in a part-member family, and we had a great discussion about the outdoors, and eventually about testimony. And then during planning, our Nurse Friend Lu JM called and said she can come to church!!! The first time ever!!

Sunday, 16 October 2016
The blessings go on and on. We had two Less-Actives, two recent converts, and three investigators at Sacrament. It was the most amazing things to look around and see what the Spirit had wrought through us. All but two people in Gospel Principles (In which my Chinese got complimented) were there because of ours and the Spirit's efforts! It was just amazing.

Family, this week has been such a blessing, and I hope these accounts can strengthen you all as well. I want to leave you with my testimony that this Gospel is the one and true gospel of God, and that through His Son, Jesus Christ, we can be clean, we can become pure, and we can live together again.

I love you all!

-Elder Meanea

PS - Here is a video that Elder Meanea sent to us of him biking home at night in Taiwan. Enjoy!

A Lovely Conference Time

My Amazing Family and Friends!

What a beautiful and uplifting week it has been. Every day I realize how blessed I am to be serving the Lord in this amazing country, on this tiny little island of Taiwan. There are 24 million people here, and only about 55,000 members. That's a lot of blessings in store for a lot of people, and I feel so blessed that the Lord has allowed me to be here at this time, serving in the way He wants me to.

Anyways, on to stuff! Or rather Dongxi in Chinese.

Monday, 3 October 2016
We had a great time at this place called the Lotus ponds for P-day. We actually met a sister who got off her Taichung mission last year and was back with her husband and her and Elder Gasser got to talk a little bit about an area they both loved, so that was really cool! The pond was just surrounded by random statues and towers, but it was a beautiful day and really fun to walk around. I actually got to talking to people on the street today! They had little interest in the message, but they understood what I was saying!

Tuesday, 4 October 2016
We visited with Lin DX this morning. He's a progressing investigator, and he's struggling to accept the Word of Wisdom. We had a great lesson, really Spirit-filled about Christ and the Atonement. It was a really powerful experience. I ate at my first Chinese buffet as well! It was called "Kid's Are Us." You just put your clips on the pictures of stuff you want to try and they keep bringing food and food. I love shrimp now, by the way, had some dumplings, some Taiwanese BBQ, the dreaded 1000-year old egg, fish ball, raw salmon and rice, And then I had a great pass-off lesson for lesson 2! At the end of the night, we went and visited a less active, Zhong DX, and hopefully he came to conference on Sunday! It was cool to see that he just needs a little push to come back into the joy of the Gospel.

Note: This is how Elder Meanea described the 1000-year old egg to us: "Legend has it that it's an egg that you have a horse....defecate on and then bury it for a few weeks in the ground....but that's probably not what it is? It almost took down Elder Gasser though." Thankfully we found out that isn't quite what it is, but look here to see what Elder Meanea actually did eat, it isn't much better! Wow, he truly is being blessed by the Lord in so many ways!

Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Zone conference! What an amazing day! We got there early so that we could practice some music for it. President Teh asked me to give my testimony right at the very beginning, but in English. We discussed a lot about the Atonement, and the whole time I just kept having the feeling of "This is the truth. God loves us so He sent His Son." There is no doubt in my mind the the Atonement is real, God is our Father, and this is His way for us to be like Him. He wants us to use the Atonement, and to fix all our mistakes before Him. And then they had a cake and sang happy birthday to all the September and October birthdays, it was a good cake! Really fruity and stuff, but that was alright with me.

Thursday, 6 October 2016
A slower day. We had studies, then Elder Gasser got called out to do another baptismal interview. I love seeing these people coming in, ready to make the commitments necessary to follow their Savior in all things. We biked around dropping off some thank you cards to all the people that had fed us, so that was fun.

Friday, 7 October 2016
We had studies and weekly planning today. It's so refreshing to step back and take a look at what you can do in the upcoming week to accomplish more of the things that the Savior wants you to. We visited our recent convert Cai again. His family is doing well, and his wife is really close to accepting being taught by the missionaries. I hope this happens. One thing that I realized this week is that the first place I felt I could bear my testimony, the first place I felt the Spirit was with my family. They fostered every spiritual aspect of my life, and always invited the Spirit into our home. I was reading in the bible dictionary, and a passage really caught my mind in the temple entry. It says that the only place that compares to the temple in sacredness is the home. I hope that we can help Cai's wife accept this gospel, and that they can start to feel that holiness and blessing of having the home be a sacred place. I know mine has been for me.

Saturday, 8 October 2016
Wow. Just wow. This General Conference totally blew me away. I literally ran my pen out of ink, but that's alright. There were so many precious truths taught, and so many things that helped me see more clearly my role in bringing Christ's Gospel to the people here. So many things about the Atonement. We actually got a challenge from our Mission president this week to take a Book of Mormon and go through, marking every verse that has reference to the Atonement. I'd invite you all to do that as well. There has never been a greater expression of pure love on this Earth than the Atonement of Jesus Christ. And I get to see that first hand in the lives of people I'm teaching. 

Note: Because of the time difference all of the members and missionaries in Taiwan spent this last weekend watching General Conference that had happened the week before.

Sunday, 9 October 2016
I want to relate a story that I read this week. I was reading in Isaiah and a few verses discussed in depth that all the lofty and high things of man would be brought down before the Lord (Isaiah 26:5). It reminded me of the story of Babel. The people who wanted to rely on their own strength, their own genius to bring them back to heaven. They had no trust in God, and finally, their tower, wisdom, language, and efforts of generations were brought low to the Earth. Contrast that with the story of Enoch and his city. He was a man of slow speech, and a slow tongue. Yet he trusted the Lord, taught His doctrine, and simply tried his best to keep the commandments, and the rest of the people in his city did so as well. You know the end of their story. Through trusting God, through never doubting that He loved them, and through following His commandments, they were taken up into heaven (Moses 7). That's all God asks us to do. Trust that we love Him. Trust that He has a plan for us. I pray that we can always remember this, especially as we reflect on the messages we've received this conference.

I love you so much my family! I hope that these messages inspire and uplift you, and if there's anything I'm missing that you want to know about, just let me know. I'm so grateful the Lord gives me this time to share my testimony with you!

- Elder Tayson Meanea

Here are some questions we asked Elder Meanea during his email time and his responses.

How far is it from your apartment to where you email?
It is about a 3 minute bike ride.

Did President Teh ask you to share your testimony in English because he is still trying to learn Mandrian?
Hahaha! No, the whole meeting is in Mandarin.

Give us an idea of how many miles you bike in a day on average?
I have no idea.

Do you and Elder Gasser do your food together, or individually?
Usually get food together.

Did you try to listen to any of conference in Mandrian, or just all English?
All English for us.

Did the ward watch all sessions of conference yesterday (Sunday) together? or just a couple of sessions?
All the Saturday ones on Saturday and all the Sunday ones on Sunday.

What about President Teh has impressed you or touched you?
He is a very Christlike man, and he seeks to strengthen us all in his example. This Gospel is all about Christ, and he knows it.

What would you say is Elder Gassers best quality?
Elder Gasser is very spiritual, very intelligent, and he can listen well to people.

What was your favorite General Conference talk? 

Sister McConkie - The Soul's Sincere Desire and Elder Bednar - "If Ye Had Known Me". I loved the focus everyone put on the Atonement. The Priesthood Session was also so great.

The Lord's Answer to a Prayer

#MissionarySelfie

My beloved friends and Family!
or rather, Wo ciai de jiating he pengyou.

This week has been another in which God has directed and shaped his little Elder Meanea to what he wants him to be.

Monday, September 26, 2016
We had P-Day, mostly just got stuff done around the apartment, and then we called some former investigators. Not much there except getting to contact my family!

Some great bread a member dropped off for us
(making Elder Meanea very happy)

Tuesday, September 27, 2016
So we got up, studied, and went out about noon to go do a language pass-off for me, where I teach a first lesson in Chinese all by myself. It was blowing pretty good when we started, but we made it. I passed! And then we got a call from a member who said the Taifeng (Typhoon) was only going to get worse, so we'd better get home. We made it, and only got almost blown over twice! So we were stuck in the apartment the rest of the day. That night we pulled out some salads that a family had brought to us from Costco. Apparently there's one right here in Kaioshung! I didn't know. But we couldn't go out to eat so we pulled them out, and they had 1800 kuai price tags! Which translates to about $60 dollars a salad! Wasai! We're going to make a very nice thank you note for them.

$60 Salad

Elder Meanea is pretty excited about the typhoon :-)

Elder Meanea showing us the rain, what til the end
and you even get a glimpse of Elder Meanea!

Wednesday, September 28, 2016
Half a Typhoon day. We had until 1:00 that we had to be inside because of the Taifeng. I got bored and read through about half of the Bible Dictionary. It's pretty good stuff! I love the definitions it gives to things like faith and repentance. Then we had English class, and a friend named Paul came! He is interested, and gave us a ride home afterward. 

actual fried rice

Thursday, September 29, 2016
Turned 19 today! We had a lesson where we got fenged (They didn't show), and then we went contacting in the park, and did some weekly planning! The Lord truly inspires us when we sit down with the best interests of our beloved brothers and sisters in mind, and tells us what will best help them. A lot of times Elder Gasser, my fantastic trainer, will ask my thoughts, I'll give them, and he had the same ones. 

Mango Bing (Ice) - a Birthday treat

Friday, September 30, 2016

Today was honestly a hard day. We went and weeded for a brother in the ward, which wasn't bad, and then we spent a few straight hours trying to contact people, with no success. We didn't have any investigators set up, and we needed some more. At the end of the day, I was just tired. We planned, and I went to bed.

Saturday, October 1, 2016
I woke up and immediately felt bad for having such a negative attitude at the end of the day. I asked the Lord to forgive me, which he did, but I was lost on how to progress. I was fed up with some of the mistakes I made in Chinese the other day, and I felt like I couldn't help these people at all. Of course Chinese was going to come, but it wasn't now! And I needed to teach and preach, and I didn't feel like I could. We started our fast at lunch, and said, "Heavenly Father. I am fasting for the gift of tongues. I can't help your children like this. I'm hindering them! In whatever way you choose, please let me receive this gift." We went to a lesson with some referrals that went alright, they weren't too thrilled about what we were teaching, but it was okay. Then we contacted for a bit, no luck, and then we went and visited Cai, our recent convert. We talked about Christ and how He's helped him. And then in the middle of the lesson, Cai looked at me, and said that watching me struggle with my Chinese, knowing that I had a testimony of Christ to come learn Chinese helps him better believe in Christ. That was the gift of tongues. It's not my magical understanding of Chinese, it's testifying of Christ, just doing my best to be like him. That was amazing. I realized I have an extremely short time to show my testimony by my struggles, it's a way in which God works miracles. Faith doesn't come from miracles, miracles come from faith. I'll never forget the day the Lord answered my prayer for the gift of tongues. 

Elder Meanea's study area

Sunday, October 2, 2016
I actually understood a lot in Church today! It was great. Thanks to the Spirit it's getting better and better. We ended the fast with our lunch there, I have no idea what I ate, but it was delicious. Then we did studies and contacted for a while. 

Side notes: In Sherlock where they have the episode about the Chinese smugglers, he says the guy is called "Jee Jew" the spider. It is actually pronounced "Jerjew" thank you very much. And also, Cai says my nose looks like Tom Cruise's nose. So that's good!

I hope you all have an amazing week!